Page 23 of The Wolf Queen

The sight of the wolf’s eyes stayed with me even after we’d returned to camp.

When Rake ambled over, inspecting our kills with a hungry look, I couldn’t help but note the similarity between his eyes and the beast’s. But any further investigation was deferred due to the need to pluck and dress the two birds.

We enjoyed a meal of roast grouse, turned on an impromptu spit made from sticks, over a hastily created fire. Then, once we were done, my mates and I worked together to clean the children’s fingers and faces of grease.

“That was delicious!” Jan crowed.

“Hope you still think so in a few days,” Del said, with the weary tone of an older brother. “We won’t be stopping at fancy inns.”

“That we won’t.” Rake got to his feet and then kicked dirt over the fire, quelling the coals. “And you will all need to keep up. I was tasked to bring her ladyship to the capital, not all of you.”

At the man’s abrasive words, Dane rose slowly to his feet, ready to make his position clear.

“Andwecare little for the job you’ve been given. This is a formality only. The king himself gave Darcy to us in return for Strelan iron. She belongs to us; not your prince. She’ll present herself at court and be gone that same day.”

My questions about Rake’s heritage doubled then, because rather than look away or spit some kind of racist diatribe, the messenger stared my mate down. I watched the muscle in his jaw jump, his eyes gleaming brighter gold as Dane’s became chips of blue ice.

“Is that right?” Rake drawled, smiling slowly. “Seems to me that you’re pretty cocky, walking into another man’s court and thinking you can make calls like that. The king might’ve made a deal with what passes for a Strelan king, but the gossip I heard in the keep says the man is dead. Which means the deal is dead, too. You’re a deposed prince, now.”

Dane’s brothers leapt to their feet to stand beside him, but Rake didn’t change his posture.

“A dead king, a dead deal and four Strelan… ‘princes’… won’t be enough to stop His Highness from taking what’s his if he decides her ladyship is our future queen.”

“No?” Dane moved so quickly I didn’t see him unsheathe his sword. One minute he had his hand on the hilt, the next the point was pressed against the man’s neck. “Then perhaps good Strelan steel is what’s needed to make our claim clear. Darcy belongs to us. That is written in the stars themselves and needs no ratification by your prince, your king or anything in this blasted country.”

“Come on,” I told the children, seeing their wide eyes and stricken expressions. “Don’t worry about that. Dane’s just making clear where things stand.”

Jan wrapped her arms around my neck, clinging to me like a baby, but the muscle jumping in Del’s jaw had me putting a hand on his shoulder and turning him around.

“Are you all right with Jan riding double with you?” I asked Del when we drew level with his horse and he hauled himself back in the saddle.

“I’m fine,” he said.

But, just like my men as they walked toward us, there was a stiff vigilance about the way he held his sister close, making sure she didn’t slip from the saddle.

“See,”Selene said, once we’d got underway and our group had fallen back a way, leaving Rake to ride ahead. “There’s something wrong with that man. He doesn’t speak right, nor act right for a man of his station. Cursing us out for being filthy wargs? That’d make sense, but—”

“But nothing,” Dane said. “The man is irrelevant. We’ll be rid of him the moment we get to Aramathia and then we need to focus on the real issue. If Crown Prince Bryson thinks he can tear us apart, he’ll get a lesson in just what happens to men who corner wolves.”

Chapter16

As the sun was setting, I forced Rake to stop. He wanted to protest, to tell me no, but something in my manner gave him pause.

“The children are falling asleep in the saddle,” I said.

“Children that were never meant to come on this journey in the first place,” he pointed out.

“Says you.” I drew myself up to sit taller in the saddle, but could not match his considerable height. “A man with little authority other than that which the prince bestowed upon you. And I saw nothing in the scroll to preclude me from bringing an entourage, as most noble women would.” I shook my head. “Any other woman of my station would be travelling by carriage and the process would be long and arduous, pulling wheels out of ruts—”

“So you say, milady.”

“I’m informing you that we are stopping for the night—as a courtesy—and you’re welcome to share our fire and our meal, if you can keep a civil tongue in your head,” I replied, keeping my tone mild.

Rake was insufferable, but I couldn’t spend the long ride to the capital at odds with the man. After the journey was done, we'd never need to speak to each other again and I clung to that fact.

“Just like that, hmm?” He smiled, but it was softer than his usual acerbic one. “Breaking bread with a commoner.”

“I care little for rank and much more about who you are as a person.” I flushed when I realised I’d contradicted that statement when I insisted on my title. “Perhaps we should try for a fresh start. Darcy of Strelae.”

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